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Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
IPO: A new best practice toolkit which gives businesses practical advice on how they can better protect themselves from the dangers of fake goods entering business supply chains has been launched. The Supply Chain Toolkit has been produced by the Intellectual Property Office's IP Crime Group.
It includes a step by step approach on what action should be taken if counterfeits are found within the supply chain and guidance on how to strengthen and protect IP assets.
Press release ~ Supply Chain Toolkit ~ Intellectual Property Office Crime Group ~ Rogers Review of National enforcement priorities for local authority regulatory services (2007) ~ UK Electronics Alliance ~ Federation of Small Businesses ~ BioIndustry Association (BIA)
NICE: New National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance outlines how healthcare professionals can involve & support patients in decisions about taking prescribed medicines. It recommends that healthcare professionals encourage patients to engage in a two-way dialogue so that patients are involved in the decision to prescribe and that the patient’s decision to use medicines is an informed decision – this includes clearly explaining to the patient about the disease or condition, how the medicine influences this and also clarifying what the patient expects from treatment.
Between 30-50% of medicines prescribed for long term conditions are not used as prescribed. The guideline recognises that non-adherence can occur because of a failure to achieve informed agreement to the prescription in the first place or to identify and provide the support that a patient needs later on.
Press release ~ Medicines adherence: involving patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence
ScotGov: Health workers have been warned that there's no excuse for failing to comply with hand hygiene procedures following the launch of a zero tolerance policy to non-compliance across NHS Scotland. The policy is contained in new guidance issued to NHS Boards last week.
The launch coincides with the latest phase of Scotland's hand hygiene media campaign which aims to raise public awareness of the importance of regular hand washing. A 'one stop shop' is being developed to give the public easy access to all published information on hospital infection rates and hand hygiene compliance.
Press release ~ ScotGov - Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Task Force ~
BERR / Andersen Review: Small businesses will get a one stop shop for guidance on health & safety and employment legislation, that will help make sure they comply with the law and save them time & money, under new recommendations from the independent review, undertaken by small business person Sarah Anderson.
They include:
* a telephone advice service, free to SMEs for the first year, providing tailored & ‘insured advice’ to make sure they comply with employment and health & safety law
* Government taking responsibility for its guidance, removing disclaimers and encouraging discretion over prosecution of ‘reasonable’ businesses
* creating a single access point for all government guidance
DH: Personal health budgets (PHBs) in England moved a step closer with the Department of Health inviting expressions of interest for a new pilot programme, which will run from the end of 2009 until 2012. The closing date for applications is 27 March 2009.
To support PCTs and local authority partners who wish to submit a proposal to the pilot programme, the DH has published Personal health budgets: first steps - a document that outlines how personal health budgets might work in the NHS and sets out evidence from other health systems. Rather than a definitive guide or rulebook, First Steps encourages PCTs to take an innovative approach to PHBs and explore the opportunities they offer.
LDA: The London Development Agency has found overwhelming demand for expert business advice in a series of ‘recovery’ seminars led by specialists from business advisory firms KPMG and Deloitte. The current series has just ended but, given the demand for these seminars, the LDA is working to provide a series of further events – details of which will be published shortly on the LDA website.
Press release ~ LDA ~ Diversity Works for London ~ Community Development Finance Institutions ~ LDA – Keep London Working ~ Business seminars ~ Relay London Jobs ~ Personal Best ~ London Skills Employment Board ~ Business Link in London ~ Knowledge Connect ~ Designing Demand ~ Supply London ~ British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre ~ Business London ~ Think London ~ Learning Skills Council ~ JobCentre Plus ~ London Chamber of Commerce and Industry ~ Confederation of British Industry ~ CompeteFor
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published final guidance on the use of cochlear implants for severe to profound deafness in children & adults. The guidance makes recommendations on the implantation of cochlear implants in one ear (unilateral implantation) and in both ears (bilateral implantation).
About 1 in every 1,000 children is severely or profoundly deaf at 3 years old, this rises to 2 in every 1,000 children aged 9 to 16 years. There are approximately 613,000 people older than 16 years with severe to profound deafness in England & Wales.
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published new guidance on methods for storing donor kidneys. It recommends the use of two systems to maintain the condition of kidneys from deceased donors before they are used for transplants in the NHS.
Before a transplant can take place, time is needed to match the kidney to the recipient, to transport and prepare the recipient and the kidney and finally to implant the kidney. To allow time for this process, kidneys need to be preserved to maintain their function – cooling the kidney & preparing it as quickly as possible is important to reduce damage caused by time spent deprived of oxygen.
Press release ~ Machine perfusion systems and cold static storage of kidneys from deceased donors ~ National Kidney Foundation
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently issued guidance on promoting physical activity, active play & sport for all children and young people up to the age of 18 in family, pre-school, school and community settings.
Current national guidelines recommend that children and young people should do a minimum of 60 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity each day. However, in a recent survey only 45% of 15 year old girls and 68% of 15 year old boys questioned reached the recommended levels of activity.
Press release ~ Promoting physical activity for children and young people ~ Promoting and creating built or natural environments that encourage and support physical activity ~ Promoting children's social and emotional wellbeing in primary education ~ Obesity: guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children ~ Depression in children and young people: identification and management in primary, community and secondary care ~ Mind, Exercise, Nutrition... Do It! or MEND for short ~ Healthy and Active Lifestyles in Wales ~ Change4Life ~ 'Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives toolkit: A Toolkit for Developing Local Strategies' ~ DH - Obesity ~
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published new guidelines outlining how healthcare professionals can treat, manage & prevent antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).
Antisocial personality disorder is not usually diagnosed before the age of 18, but characteristics of the disorder can be recognised in younger people as conduct problems. Early treatment of children (aged 5–11 years) and young people (aged 12–17 years) with conduct problems may help to prevent antisocial personality disorder from developing later.
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published new guidelines outlining how healthcare professionals can identify, treat & manage people with borderline personality disorder (PBD).
People with PBD come from many different backgrounds, but most will have suffered some kind of trauma or neglect as children.
People with PBD come from many different backgrounds, but most will have suffered some kind of trauma or neglect as children.
Press release ~ Borderline personality disorder: treatment and management ~ Home Office Research Study 225: Intervening to prevent antisocial personality disorder: a scoping review ~ National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
LLUK: Lifelong Learning UK is calling on student liaison officers and other people employed in learner support roles to share their views on what the proposed new National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Learner Involvement should look like.
The aim of introducing standards is to ensure the same opportunities for career development and professionalism for everyone working in learner support – from counselling, to facilities and advice to administration – as well as student liaison officers.
The consultation is taking place between 5 January 2009 and 6 February 2009 (with the project due to complete by 31 March 2009) through a series of workshops and online. Lifelong Learning UK wants as many liaison officers and stakeholders to take part as possible to help shape this important initiative.
DH: Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson has announced clear medical guidance on alcohol consumption which recommends that young people up to the age of 15 should avoid alcohol altogether – See ‘Consultations’ for more information.
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